The following is the concluding part of the defence of Dicæopo

lis: (v. 535.)

Then the Megarians, being all half starved,
Desir'd the Spartans, to desire of us,

Not to repeal those laws; the laws I mentioned,
Occasioned by the stealing of those strumpets.

And so they begg'd and prayed us several times;

And we refused; and so they went to war.

You'll say, 'They should not.' Why, what should they have done?

Just make it your own case: Suppose the Spartans

Had mann'd a boat, and landed on your islands,

And stolen a pug-puppy from Seriphos;

Would you then have remained at home inglorious?

Not so, by no means; at the first report,

You would have launched at once three hundred gallies,
And filled the city with the noise of troops;
And crews of ships, crowding and clamouring
About the muster-masters and paymasters;
With measuring corn out at the magazine,
And all the porch choked with the multitude;
With figures of Minerva, newly furbished,
Painted and gilt, parading in the streets;
With wineskins, kegs and firkins, leeks and onions;
With garlic cramm'd in pouches, nets, and pokes ;
With garlands, singing girls, and bloody noses.
Our arsenal would have sounded and resounded
With bangs and thwacks of driving bolts and nails;
With shaping oars, and holes to put the oar in; ¦
With hacking, hammering, clattering, and boring ;
Words of command, whistles, and pipes, and fifes.
Such would have been your conduct. Will you say
That Telephus would have acted otherwise.

The following is an example of a translation of a choral speech in tetrameter trochaics. (v. 676.)

We the veterans of the city, briefly must expostulate

At the hard ungrateful usage which we meet with from the state,
Suffering men of years and service at your bar to stand indicted,
Bullied by the beardless speakers, worried, and perplexed and frighted,
Aided only by their staff, the staff on which their steps are stayed;
Old, and impotent, and empty; deaf, decrepid, and decayed.
There they stand, and pore, and drivel, with a misty purblind gleam;
Scarce discerning the tribunal, in a kind of waking dream.
Then the stripling, their accuser, fresh from training, bold and
quick,
Pleads in person, fencing, sparring, using every turn and trick;
Grappling with the feeble culprit, dragging him to dangerous
Into pitfalls of dilemmas, to perplex him and confound.

ground,

Then the wretched invalid attempts an answer, and at last,
After stammering and mumbling, goes away condemned and cast:
Moaning to his friends and neighbours, "All the little store I have,
All is gone! my purchase money for a coffin and a grave.”

We will conclude our extracts from this play with a passage in the Cretic metre. Mr. Frere states that "he

from a choral song has endeavoured to develop with more effect a pretty fanciful allusion in the original; the picture, the work of Zeuxis, was an object well known to all the inhabitants of Athens; for the sake of the modern reader it was necessary to insert a slight sketch of it.” (v. 990.)

Vanishing, eloping, and abandoning unhappy Greece?
Love is as a painter, ever doting on a fair design.
Zeuxis has illustrated a vision and a wish of mine.

Cupid is pourtrayed

Naked, unarray'd,

With an amaranthine braid

Waving in his hand;

With a lover and a maid

Bounden in a band,

Cupid is uniting both

Nothing loth.

Think then if I saw ye with a Cupid in a tether, dear,
Binding and uniting us eternally together here;

Think of the delight of it; in harmony to live at last;
Making it a principle to cancel all offences past.
Really I propose it, and I promise yet to do my best,
(Old as you may fancy me) to sacrifice my peace and rest;
Working in my calling as a father of a family,

Labouring and occupied in articles of husbandry.

You shall have an orchard, with the fig-trees in a border round,
Planted all in order, and a vineyard and an olive-ground.

When the month is ended, we'll repose from toil,

With a bath and banquet, wine and anointing oil.

We now pass on to the Knights. The first entrance of the chorus is given with great spirit and effect. (v. 247.)

Close around him, and confound him, the confounder of us all,
Pelt him, pummel him, and maul him; rummage, ransack, overhawl him;
Overbear him and outbawl him; bear him down and bring him under.
Bellow like a burst of thunder, robber! harpy! sink of plunder!
Rogue and villain! rogue and cheat! rogue and villain I repeat!
Oftener than I can repeat it, has the rogue and villain cheated.
Close around him left and right; spit upon him, spurn and smite:

Spit upon him as you see; spurn and spit at him like me.
But beware or he'll evade ye, for he knows the private track
Where Eucrates was seen escaping with his mill-dust on his back.
Cleon. Worthy veterans of the jury, you that either right or wrong,
With my threepenny provision, I've maintained and cherish'd long,
Come to my aid! I'm here waylaid-assassinated and betray'd—
Chorus. Rightly serv'd! we serve you rightly, for your hungry love
of pelf;

For your gross and greedy rapine, gormandizing by yourself;
You that ere the figs are gathered, pilfer with a privy twitch
Fat delinquents and defaulters, pulpy, luscious, plump and rich;
Pinching, fingering and pulling-tampering, selecting, culling,
With a nice survey discerning, which are green and which are turning,
Which are ripe for accusation, forfeiture and confiscation.

Him besides, the wealthy man, retir'd upon an easy rent,

Hating and avoiding party, noble-minded, indolent,

Fearful of official snares, intrigues, and intricate affairs;

Him you mark; you fix and hook him, whilst he's gaping unawares;
At a fling, at once you bring him hither from the Chersonese,
Down you cast him, roast and baste him, and devour him at your ease.
Cleon. Yes! assault, insult, abuse me! this is the return I find,

For the noble testimony, the memorial I design'd:

Meaning to propose proposals for a monument of stone,

On the which, your late achievements should be carv'd and neatly done. Chorus. Out, away with him! the slave! the pompous, empty fawning

knave!

Does he think with idle speeches to delude and cheat us all?

As he does the doting elders, that attend his daily call.

Pelt him here, and bang him there; and here and there and everywhere. Cleon. Save me neighbours! O the monsters! O my side, my back,

my breast.

Chorus. What, you're forc'd to call for help? you brutal overbearing

pest.

S. S. [returning to Cleon.] I'll astound you with my voice; with my bawling looks and noise. Chorus. If in bawling you surpass him, you'll achieve a victor's crown. The following song of the chorus relates to the same subject; but is in a different style and metre: (v. 322.)

Even in your tender years,

And your early disposition,
You betray'd an inward sense
Of the conscious impudence

Which constitutes a politician.

Hence you squeeze and drain alone the rich milk kine of our allies;
Whilst the son of Hippodamus licks his lips with longing eyes.

But now, with eager rapture we behold
A mighty miscreant of baser mould!
A more consummate ruffian!

An energetic, ardent ragamuffin!

The following extracts will serve to characterize the dialogue in tetrameter iambics which ensues between Cleon and the sausageseller. (v. 342.)

Cleon. What means,-what ground of hope have you? to dare to speak against me?

S. S. What! I can speak! and I can chop-garlic and lard and logic. Cleon. Aye! You're a speaker I suppose! I should enjoy to see you,

Like a pert scullion set to cook-to see your talents fairly
Put to the test, with hot, blood-raw, disjointed news arriving,
Obliged to hash and season it, and dish it in an instant.
You're like the rest of 'em-the swarm of paltry weak pretend-

ers.

You've made your pretty speech perhaps, and gain'd a little
law-suit

Against a merchant foreigner, by dint of water drinking,
And lying long awake o' nights, composing and repeating,
And studying as you walk'd the streets, and wearing out the
patience

Of all your friends and intimates, with practising beforehand :
And now you wonder at yourself, elated and delighted

At your own talent for debate-you silly saucy coxcomb.

S. S. What's your own diet? What kind of drink drives you to that presumption.

Cleon. Why mention any man besides, that's capable to match me;
That after a sound hearty meal of tunny fish and cutlets
Can quaff my gallon; and at once, without premeditation,
With slang and jabber overpower the Generals at Pylos.
S. S. But I can eat my paunch of pork, my liver and my haslets,
And scoop the sauce with both my hands; and with my dirty
fingers

I'll seize old Nicias by the throat and choke the grand debaters.

We annex a portion of a choral address to Cleon, rendered in a somewhat free paraphrase, but with great felicity. (v. 402.)

Active, eager, airy thing!

Ever hovering on the wing,
Ever hovering and discovering
Golden, sweet, secreted honey,

Nature's mintage and her money.

-May thy maw be purg'd and scoured,
From the gobbets it devoured;
By the emetic drench of law!
With the cheerful ancient saw,

Then we shall rejoice and sing,
Chaunting out with hearty glee,
"Fill a bumper merrily

"For the merry news I bring!"

Mr. Frere introduces his translation of the latter part of the long and celebrated parabasis of the Knights with the following remark: (v. 595.)

'It is observable, that the antepirrema is generally in a lower and less serious tone than its preceding epirrema; as if the poet were, or thought it right to appear, apprehensive of having been over earnest in his first address. In the present instance, as the poetical advocate of his party, he had already stated their claims to public confidence and favour; and, in the concluding lines, had deprecated the jealousy and envy to which they were exposed. He now wishes to give a striking instance of their spirit and alacrity in the service of the country; and it is given accordingly, in the most uninvidious manner, in a tone of extravagant burlesque humour.'

Let us sing the mighty deeds of our illustrious noble steeds.
They deserve a celebration for their service heretofore,
Charges and attacks, exploits enacted in the days of yore:
These however strike me less, as having been performed ashore.
But the wonder was to see them, when they fairly went aboard,
With canteens and bread and onions, victuall'd and completely
stored,

Then they fix'd and dipt their oars, beginning all to shout and
weigh,

Just the same as human creatures, "Pull away boys! pull away!" "Bear a hand there, Roan and Sorrel! Have a care there, Black

and Bay."

Then they leapt ashore at Corinth; and the lustier younger sort
Stroll'd about to pick up litter, for their solace and disport:
And devour'd the crabs of Corinth, as a substitute for clover.
So that a poetic Crabbe, exclaim'd in anguish "All is over!
"What awaits us, mighty Neptune, if we cannot hope to keep
"From pursuit and persecution in the land or in the deep."

We are unable to reconcile the allusion to the poet Crabbe in this passage with the canons of translation which Mr. Frere has himself laid down in his article in the Quarterly Review. The play upon the name of the modern English poet transplants us somewhat violently from Athens during the Peloponnesian war to England in the nineteenth century. Moreover, we can discern in the original no trace of an allusion to the Attic poet Carcinus. We may add that Mr. Frere's version omits the important words rous ἱππέας in the last line.